Everything Will Be Just Fine; Everything Is Fine

While much of our Golden Age seems to depend upon AI; we've never had a Legitimate improvement emanate from Communism

• Since being elected, Mamdani’s administration has said it will look at every viable option to help raise revenue and fill a $5.4 billion budget deficit for the city, but his preference has not changed from what he ran on: “tax the rich.” That has resulted in a political standoff with New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, who facing her own reelection campaign, has said she will not approve increased taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

• “It’s a fragile environment today and we should be careful with this budget,” said Steven Fulop, Partnership for New York City president and CEO, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday. His group represents corporate, investment, and entrepreneurial firms. In an op-ed he co-authored last week, Fulop warned that any plan to tax the rich and businesses will ripple through the cost equation for every New Yorker. “With New Yorkers already leaving the state in search of a lower cost of living, further raising prices could send even more folks packing and undermine the state’s long-term economic growth,” he argued in the Newsday piece.

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• While all these moves reflect a longer-term trend that is a risk for New York City, data from commercial real estate firm JLL° covering the first quarter of Mamdani’s term shows that demand for office space and rents in Manhattan are up, while vacancies are down, continuing a trend that was in place at the end of last year before Mamdani’s term began, though overlapped with his winning of the election. JLL says companies are continuing to sign leases and compete for high-quality space in top-tier buildings, which is allowing landlords to push rents higher.

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• While the commitments to long-term space are notable, the decisions are a mix of maintaining footholds and new growth...

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• But the AI boom implies another source of uncertainty for the city’s real estate future. “The land grab for talent and space is immediate, but uncertainty is driving how they commit,” JLL noted in its quarterly review. “AI companies in New York are taking significantly more space than their current headcount requires, in anticipation for the hiring they expect to do.”

• JLL added that a notable feature of these leases is AI firms “demanding flexible lease structures with built-in adjustment mechanisms and reconfigurable facilities.”

• The AI activity, Margolin warned, “is a trend that is reminiscent of the dot com boom (and we can all remember how that ended).” But he added “this time they’re clearly focused on top-tier buildings in prime locations, which is pushing the class A market to new highs.”

° hypelink (in article) to report which is too small to read

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/05/mayor-zohran-mamdani-new-york-office-real-estate-market.html